Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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46 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
SPECIAL REPORT NASA TECHNOLOGY
rying defibrillators or other life-saving cargo
have the same access? Is the drone the give-
way aircraft or does it take priority?
"These are the policy issues being discussed
right now in the halls of Congress as well as
with the FAA and NASA," Bullard said.
INSPECTIONS
There are plenty of areas that can benefit from
drone inspections, including infrastructure, oil
and gas pipelines and power lines, Ellis said.
These various assets either require routine in-
spections to meet safety requirements or as a
way for owners to make sure they're perform-
ing as efficiently as possible.
When Ellis first started looking at UAS in-
spection, he found people in these industries
were grabbing drones off the shelf to take vid-
eo, but then had no idea what to do with the
data collected. While drones represented a saf-
er way to preform inspections than traditional
methods, users were crashing their systems
and becoming frustrated with the process.
They needed a good solution, and that's where
service providers like SkySpecs play a role.
Ellis and his team weren't wind turbine ex-
perts when they started, but they hired people
who were—which is something Ellis recom-
mends for anyone looking to offer drone in-
spection services to a particular industry. It's
also important to remember one UAS doesn't
work for every job, and potential clients don't
care about the drone you're using. They want
to hear how the data you provide can improve
efficiencies and save them money.
"The drone part does not matter," he said.
"All that matters is you are giving them data
that helps them drive better business deci-
sions. If you can drive better business deci-
sions, people are going to care."
Wind turbine and other assets can be inspect-
ed without flying BVLOS, but that's not the case
with every industry. For pipeline inspections to
be effective, for example, pilots need the ability
to safely fly BVLOS, Prevot said.
MAPPING AND AGRICULTURE
In the early days of the commercial drone
industr y, precision agr iculture was pre-
dicted to make up most of the UAS market,
Poss said. In this market, there are no wor-
ries about privacy issues, f lying over people
or sharing the airspace with other aircraft.
Drones also provide a better picture of crop
health, and can tell farmers exactly where to
spray pesticides.
The problem? It soon became clear farmers
don't want pictures, they want prescriptions,
Poss said. Pinpointing exactly where pesticides
need to go doesn't save much money, and for
UAS to truly benefit larger farms, they must
have the ability to f ly BVLOS.
Most farmers don't need images instanta-
neously, Ellis said, meaning they get just as
much benefit from satellite images as they
do from drone images. There have been talks
about using drones to actually spray pesticides,
but adding weight to these systems comes with
its own set of challenges.
Push back from the crop dusters association
also created unexpected problems, Bullard
said, as did the fact the optimum altitude for
f lying crops is between 900 and 1200 feet.
UAS can't legally f ly above 400 feet without
CURRENT PART 107 RULES
• Need a "Remote Pilot Certifi cate" to fl y
• UAS must be registered
• UAS must be 55 lbs or smaller
• Can't fl y above 400 feet AGL (except near structures)
or over 87 kts
• One remote pilot per drone
• No operations from moving vehicles
• Class G airspace operations are allowed. Operations in Class B,
C, D and E airspace require FAA authorization
• Day/Dusk VFR only with 3 nm visibility
• No operations over people "not directly involved" in UAS
operations in the open
• Line of sight operations only
FOR MORE INFO
on how drones are being used
by the media, read "News
From a Different Angle" at
insideunmannedsystems.com
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Photos courtesy of CNN and Uber Elevate.